Turbine pump



FTURBINE PUMP Filed May 22, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 GEORGE A..BIGG$,

Sept. 27, 1938. 7 G A, BIGGS 2,131,611

TURBINE PUMP Filed May 22, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 MW; m nim-11 GEORGE 5.51663,

\ .MWaSW Sept. 27, 1938. G.A, 1 2,131,611

' TURBINE PUMP Filed May 22; 1937 4 Sheets-sh t 5 I I... I LII .111".

IW 1111.11.11. N1h!1h1 I P 27, 1938- G. A. BIGGS 2,131,611

TURB I NE PUMP Filed May 22, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 GEORGEAJBIGG-S,

Patented Sept 27, 1938 7 2,131,611

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE TURBINE PUMP George A. Biggs, Springfield, Ohio. assignor to The James Lefiel and Company, Springfield, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 22, 1937, Serial No. 144,148

' 6 Claims. (01. 103-87) My invention relates to hydraulic turbines, and form of control for the turbine pumping unit of to turbine pumps. my invention. I

It is my object to provide a unitary hydraulic Figure 11 is a section on the line ll-l I of Fig.- turbine which is arranged to operate both as a ure 10.

pump and as a hydraulic turbine, utilizing a com- Referring to the drawings in detail, I desig- 5 mon stream of water for the dual purpose of nates the head-waters in the power house headoperating the turbine and operating the pump, waters chamber 2, in which'is located the comand of pumping a part of the fluid from the bined turbine and pumping unit of my invention. stream. This results in a turbine being used for The concrete floor 3 of the chamber 2 is provided generating current by driving the generator and with an opening 4, through which projects the 10 the turbine being used to operate a pump, the .draft tube 5 of the turbine. Below the floor 3 is pump constituting apart of the turbine, and utithe tail-Waters compartment 6, in which are the lizing a part of the head-waters as the fluid to tail-waters l. The lower gate casing ring 8 rests be pumped in some other locality, such as a reser- .on the top flange 9 of the draft tube 5 Bolted d5 voir. thereto is the top gate casing ring and cover I0,

It is particularly my object to provide a turbine which is retained in position by the bolts H Berunner in which the outer blades of the runner tween these two rings are the gates I2, which are act as the driving blades of the runner, and inner adjusted in the usual manner by the link l3, blades of the runner act as pumping vanes of a which is connected by .a pitman M to an adjustigo pump; and furthermore, it is my object to provide me ring l5, actuated by th a m i 6 and having a the dividing ring between said blades as the rack I'l engaging with a pinion l8 on the shaft means of separating the pumping fluid and the IS, which is controlled by the hand wheel 20. pumped fluid. Within this gate casing is the runner, consist- It is my object to provide a gate case in guiding ing of a hollow hub or partitionwall 2 l which is g; alignment with the partition between the blades, arcuate in section and open a the p a d bottom and in alignment with the tube for the pumped to form a passageway 22 therethrough. On the water so that the pumping water will be guided outside of this hollow hub is a plurality of runner without turbulence through its draft tube, and bu ke s 23 O t Ollie! d of Which, Optionally, the pumped water will be guided without turbus a ri g s turbine y be of a y desired 35) lence through its exit pipe. form or character. The buckets'may be adjustto It is my object, in this connection, to provide a able or rigid, as Shown- On the inside of the runner shaft for the turbine which can be used in 0W h s a Second 11111015, also having faces that the usual manner for driving a remotely located are a cuate n Sect on. The contour of this hub generator. follows generally the insidecontour of the hub 2|.

. ,3 .In the drawings: The two hubs are interconnected by the pumping .35

Figure l is a section through the combined turblades 26. The hub 25 is connected by the runner bine and pump, illustrating the connection of the S t s e mechanism, such a a P y turbine to a generator, and the connection of the 8 and be t a generator The ato pump to a reservoir. may be directly mounted on the runner shaft; If Figure 2 is a vertical cross section of the rundesired, the intermediate thrust bearing 3 may d0 ner in detail. be employed, operating within the lubricant Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig- Chambe 3 e arrangement of the p p ure 2. blades 26 is more fully shown in Figure 3, with Figure 4 is a section on the line 44 of Figrespect to the gates I2. The relationship of the 3;, ure 2. buckets '23 and the gates I2 is shown more fully .45

Figure 5 is a modified view showing in section a in Figure combined turbine and pump. The bottom of the hollow hub 2| is arranged Figure 6 is a perspective of the runner of Figin overlapping ar a t, w t a t a y ure 5. i pipe 33 through which the water is pumped from .50 Figure 7 is a section through a combined runthe head-waters to a reservoir 34. A check valve-.50 ner and pump, showing another modification. 35 may be interposed in the line. These same Figure 3 is a p p CfiV 0 e run er of Fighead-waters serve to rotate the turbine so as to ure '7. rotate the blades 26, pump the water and turn the Figure 9 isa section on the'line-9-9 of Figure 7. shaft 21. V .335 .:Figure 10 is a diagrammatic view of a modified .InFigure 5 the turbine runner is of the same 55 general character, but the water enters on the top of the gate casing l and is guided thereto by its own stationary guide vanes 36 which are interposed between the top of the gate casing in and its stationary bearing support 31 for the lower end of the runner shaft.

In Figure '7 is shown a modified construction, in which no power is taken off of the top of the runner shaft. A housing 38 incloses the top of the shaft. A suitable thrust bearing 39 is supported within the stationary guide vanes 36 for taking the thrust on the head of the shaft. Below the pumping blades, in a supplementary stationary guide tube 45, are stationary straightening vanes 4| to straighten out the turbulence of the water being pumped. This tube 46 is held in position by exterior straightening vanes 42, which are mounted upon the inner wall of the draft tube 5. In this construction the runner buckets 23 are made without an outer ring and are of the propeller type, as distinguished from the Frances runner type of the previous views. In this construction the lower gate ring 8a is adjustable through the pitman 43. The lugs 44 engage the gates 12 in order to rotate them about their pivotal supports lZa.

In order to provide a control for the pumping operations, I have provided the arrangement shown in Figures and 11. The pitman 43 is connected on a gate-operating shaft 46, which is supported at its lower end by a bearing 41. The upper end is connected by bevel gears 48 and 49 to a motor 56. This motor is supplied with current through the lines 51, 52. A travel limit relay 53 is interposed in the line. This circuit of the wires 5|, 52 is closed or opened by the switch 54, which is connected by the cable 55 to a float 56 in the reservoir 34. The counterbalancing weight 5'! is provided. The switch is also provided with a weight 58. The end of the switch arm is formed into an eye 59, through which the cable 55 passes. Stops 60 on the cable engage with the walls of the eye 59.

When the float 56 moves the lever in one direction, it closes the electric circuit so that the motor will move the gates to closed position, and when the water runs out of the reservoir 34 the float will move to throw the circuit to the position to reverse the motor to open the gates. The travel limit relay 53 effects this reversal.

It will be understood that the difference in level between the top of the head-waters and the top of the tail-waters, I and 1 respectively, produces the power desired. Some of this power is used to elevate the water passing through the pump to a higher elevation than in the reservoir 34. The power required to pump a relatively small quantity of water is less than the power that the turbine develops. Therefore, this excess amount, over and above the pumping requirements, can be transmitted to the generator 30. The arrangement shown is purely typical, and it is understood that various other arrangements of my invention may be made. The thrust bearing 3! supports the revolving load of rotating parts, together with the hydraulic thrust of the runner. It will be noted that the vanes of the runner are shaped differently for the turbine and the pump, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, the angle P being the proper degree to suit the pumping requirements and the turbine requirements. Any suitable seal may be provided at the juncture at the bottom of the hollow hub and the pipe through which the water is being pumped.

It will be understood that I desire to comprehend within my invention such modifications as come within the scope of the claims and the invention.-

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination, a draft tube, a gate casing, gates therein, said gate casing having a top member extending downwardly interiorly of the gates, means mounted on the interior of the top member of said gate casing for supporting a runner bearing, a runner shaft and bearing supported therein, a hub on said shaft, pumping blades on said hub arranged beneath said top member of the gate casing, a ring on said blades in alignment with the top member of the gate casing, and turbine blades on the exterior of said ring.

2. In combination, a draft tube, a gate casing, gates therein, said gate casing having a top member extending downwardly interiorly of the gates, means mounted on the interior of the top member of said gate casing for supporting a runner bearing, a runner shaft and bearing supported therein, a hub on said shaft, pumping blades on said hub arranged beneath said top member of the gate casing, a ring on said blades in alignment with the top member of the gate casing, turbine blades on the exterior of said ring, and a pipe for pumped fluid supported on said draft tube beneath said ring supporting the turbine blades.

3. In combination, a draft tube, a gate casing, gates therein, said gate casing having a top member extending downwardly interiorly of the gates, means mounted on the interior of the top member of said gate casing for supporting a runner bearing, a runner shaft and bearing supported therein, a hub on said shaft, pumping blades on said hub arranged beneath said top member of the gate casing, a ring on said blades in alignment with the top member of the gate casing, turbine blades on the exterior of said ring, a pipe for pumped fluid supported on said draft tube beneath said ring supporting the turbine blades, and a bearing for said runner shaft mounted within said pumping tube.

4. In combination, a draft tube, a pumped water tube supported therein by water straightening vanes, water straightening vanes within said water tube carrying a bearing, a runner shaft mounted in said bearing, a hub on said shaft, pumping blades on said hub, a ring in alignment with said tube mounted on said blades, runner blades mounted on said ring extending to a point adjacent the draft tube, and means comprising a gate casing. adapted to guide water over said runner blades and over said pumping blades in and outside of said ring and adapted also to support the upper end of said runner shaft.

5. In combination, a draft tube, a gate casing with gates therebetween, a turbine runner comprising a hollow hub, the walls of which are in alignment with a downwardly extending extension of the top of the gate casing, a pipe supported within the draft tube in alignment with the bottom of the hollow hub, a second hub and runner shaft, pumping blades connecting the second hub to the interior of the hollow hub, runner blades on the exterior of the hollow hub, a set of stationary vanes mounted on top of the gate casing, and a bearing carried thereby for engaging and supporting said runner shaft, said bearing being submerged beneath the headwaters flowing thereover through said hollow hub.

6. In combination in a combined hydraulic turbine and hydraulic pump, a gate casing comprising an upper ring and a lower ring, adjustable ates therebetween, a draft tube associated with the lower gate ring, a hollow hub runner wall associated with an extension of the upper gate ring, a stationary tube for pumped fluid connected to and in extension of said hollow hub arranged concentrically of said draft tube, turbine runner blades on said hub in the space between it and the gate rings and draft tube, pumping blades on the inside of said hollow hub whereby the fluid flowing over the turbine blades is controlled by said gates while the fluid flowing over the pumping blades is uncontrolled in amount and is pumped through the pipe concentric with the draft tube below the hollow hub.

GEORGE A. BIGGS. 

